The five most popular stories on CNN.com in the past 24 hours, according to NewsPulse.

Teen basketball star dies after winning shot: As news of Wes Leonard's death spread, a small community on the banks of Lake Michigan convulsed in shock. A moment of enormous school pride was reduced to irrelevance, a moment of joy turned into the opposite.

Walker sends layoff warning to unions: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's administration on Friday issued notices to unions, warning them of possible layoffs in early April if the budget impasse continues.

Are whites racially oppressed? They marched on Washington to reclaim civil rights. They complained of voter intimidation at the polls. They called for ethnic studies programs to promote racial pride. They are, some say, the new face of racial oppression in this nation - and their faces are white.

10-year-old girl upstages Lady Gaga: The 10-year-old girl whose rendition of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" made her a YouTube sensation joined her idol onstage Thursday night - and stole the show.

[LIBYA 9:06 p.m. ET, 4:06 a.m. local] Egypt's new prime minister, Essam Sharaf, appeared before thousands of protesters at Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, telling them he is "of the people" and would resign if he failed to meet their demands. Sharaf, Egypt's former transportation minister, was sworn in Friday after the resignation of Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister appointed by Hosni Mubarak.

[LIBYA 6:00 p.m. ET, 1:00 a.m. local] The United Nations said Friday it is studying Libya's request to install a more loyal diplomat as its ambassador. A letter from Libya's government asked that former Foreign Minister Ali Abdussalam Treki be approved as its envoy. Treki, who recently served as the president of the U.N. General Assembly, would replace Mohamed Shalgham as ambassador in New York.

Battalions of forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi attacked protesters with mortars and machine guns as they were demonstrating in the city's Martyrs Square, eyewitnesses said. The troops also assaulted an ambulance and killed people who fell wounded.

"Civilians were killed but we can not say how many. We buried nine people so far," the witness said. "The attack was indescribable. Direct gunfire was opened on people."

[SAUDI ARABIA, 12:04 p.m. ET, 8:04 p.m. local] A second protest unfolded in Riyadh after Friday prayer, according to two Saudi activists who requested they not be identified because of concerns for their safety.

As many as 40 anti-government demonstrators gathered outside Al-Rajhi Mosque for a short protest. At least one man involved in organizing the protest was arrested, the activists said.

The activists said the protesters attracted a crowd of worshipers leaving the mosque. Some of the protesters carried signs showing a map of Saudi Arabia that did not contain the words "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," an affront to the Saudi royal family.

[LIBYA, 11:56 a.m. ET, 6:56 p.m. local] A witness said the Friday attack in Zawiya was an "indescribable" and deadly assault. The witness said forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi attacked peaceful protesters in Zawiya with mortars and machine guns.

[LIBYA, 11:32 a.m. ET, 6:32 p.m. local] A C-130 cargo plane labeled with a U.S. flag landed in Tunisia, Libya, on Friday, CNN has learned.Ā Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated Friday that two C-130 planes were en route to Tunisia to help with the humanitarian crisis in Libya.

[LIBYA, 11:02 a.m. ET, 6:02 p.m. local] At least 15 people have been killed and 200 wounded in the Libyan city of Zawiya, according to a doctor, who said "there is a river of blood" at the hospital where the injured are being treated.

Earlier, a report from Libyan State TV said that people in Zawiya, west of Tripoli, and "their public leadership have secured and took control over the city from the 'armed terrorist elements.'"

The doctor said wounded people started arriving at the hospital Friday morning, and most of the injuries are from gunshots.

"Editor's note: Nancy Grace's new show on HLN, "Nancy Grace: America's Missing," is dedicated to finding 50 people in 50 days. As part of the effort, which relies heavily on audience participation, CNN.com's news blog This Just In will feature the stories of the missing.

This is the 35th case, and it was shown Friday night on HLN.

ļ»æVenus Stewart walked out to her mailbox in her pajamas to mail a letter the morning of April 26, 2010, and was never seen again.

Police believe the young mother of two little girls is dead, but a body has not been found. Drag marks in the yard pointed to signs of a struggle. Search warrants later revealed blood believed to belong to the 32-year-old mother in her estranged husbandās truck, along with a receipt for a shovel, tarp and gloves.

The estranged husband, Doug Stewart, is on trial for Stewartās murder. While Venusā family finds solace with the justice system, they want to find their daughter to give her a proper burial.

In the end, Roger Ebertās computer voice passed what he called the ultimate test. It got a laugh, which was no easy thing given the emotionally wrenching talk Ebert, his wife and two friends gave to close the TED conference Friday.

Ebert, the film and culture critic, lost the ability to speak and much of his lower jaw after operations for cancer four years ago.

Taking the stage at the conference in Long Beach, California, he wore a newly designed facial prosthesis. Ebert spoke through "Alex," a computer voice from his MacBook, and was accompanied by his wife, Chaz, and friends John Hunter and Dean Ornish. The four took turns giving the talk, as Ebert told the story of his illness, which turned a self-described "motor mouth" into a man who can't have a conventional conversation.

TED, which originally stood for the subjects of technology, entertainment and design, is a high-profile conference run by a nonprofit dedicated to "Ideas Worth Spreading." Its conference this year was titled, "The Rediscovery of Wonder."

"When you see me today, I look like the Phantom of the Opera," Ebert said, as Chaz immediately broke in to say, "No, you donāt!" She had to pause in the midst of the speech to regain composure.

"It is human nature to look away from illness," Ebert added, explaining that making friends for him is now much easier online, where his blog and Twitter feed draw wide readership. "I become uncomfortable when separated from my laptop."

Ebert began by playing a clip from the film "2001: A Space Odyssey," in which the eerie voice of the computer HAL 9000 says repeatedly, "My mind is going." The critic likened some of his computer voices to HAL, but pointed out there has been immense progress in technology used to simulate voices. A company in Scotland was able to create a computer voice that sounds like Ebert before he lost his ability to speak. The voice was generated through processing many hours of tapes of Ebert talking.

Still, the voice he put to the test was the impersonal "Alex."

"The ultimate test of a computer voice is whether it can tell a joke like Henny Youngman," Ebert said.

He told the audience, some in a somber state, a story that changed their mood:

A 28-year-old man who fell into an abandoned mine in Nevada may have to stay there until conditions at the mine allow for his rescue, officials said.

The man fell Wednesday at the Murphy Mine Complex, which dates back to 1895 and is located about 60 miles south of Winnemucca in Pershing County, said spokeswoman JoLynn Worley of the state Bureau of Land Management.

Rescuers went down the shaft but could not find him. They did, however, find him upon sending a camera down the shaft, and at 8 p.m. PT Thursday, he was alive and moving his hands.

āIt appears that due to the hazardous and dangerous conditions of that shaft, the rescue efforts were stopped,ā Worley said.

As of 3 a.m. Friday, the camera was still recording him. He was breathing, but there was no movement, she said.

A U.S. Navy Search and Rescue team is assisting regional authorities and the Newmont Mining Corp. in the rescue.

Lady Gaga has threatened to sue the makers of an ice cream made from human breast milk if they don't stop selling the product under the name "Baby Gaga."

News of the flavor's sale in a London sweets shop by a waitress dressed like Lady Gaga raised eyebrows worldwide and led to its confiscation after the Westminister City Council deemed it unfit for human consumption.

That hasn't stopped the meat-wearing entertainer from accusing Covent Garden's Icecreamists of riding her "coattails" to promote a "deliberately provocative" product that many consider "nausea-inducing," according to legal documents filed on her behalf.

In using her name and her image, Gaga - whose real name is StefaniĀ Germanotta - accuses the shop of misleading the public into believing she endorses the concoction of breast milk, vanilla pods and lemon zest.

"The references you are making to Lady Gaga are thus clearly deliberate and intended to take advantage of her reputation and good will," the document states.

Furthermore, "associating the Lady Gaga mark with a food product which may be unsafe for human consumption (owing to the risk of it carrying such viruses as hepatitis) is also highly detrimental" to her brand, according to the document.

Gaga demands that IcecreamistsĀ change the name of the ice cream to something that is not "aurally, visually or conceptually similar" to Lady Gaga and to remove all references to Baby Gaga from their website and marketing materials or face an injunction and further legal proceedings.

The owner of Icecreamists, Matt O'Connor, said he intends to fight the allegations, which he calls "preposterous and outrageous."

He also said he plans to continue selling the breast milk ice cream under the name Baby Gaga if he gets the ice cream back from the council.

"We think this is very unnecessary, the whole thing will be over by next week, but we are prepared to fight this in court," he said.

[Updated at 4:03 p.m. ET] A spokesman for the attorney general of Chihuahua State denied reports Friday that Marisol Valles Garcia - the 20-year-old woman who made headlines when she became the police chief of Praxedis, Mexico - has left the country for the United States.

Spokesman Arturo Sandoval was referring to comments in El Diario newspaper attributed to Jorge Gonzalez Nicolas, the attorney general for the northern district of Chihuahua.

"He did not give a press conference," Sandoval told CNN. "We negate reports that Nicolas said she fled to the United States."

Comic book character Archie has always been a sort of awkward, goofy dude, but to at least one collector, he's a superhero.

A copy of Archie Comics No. 1 sold at auction last week for $167,300, the highest amount ever paid for a non-superhero comic book, according to Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas.

"Archie may have a ways to go to catch the likes of Superman and Batman, his Golden Age counterparts, but you can bet that collectors sat up and took notice when this comic brought that price," said Lon Allen, managing director of comics at Heritage Auction Galleries. "This amount exceeds the priciest of Spidey and Hulk comic books we've sold, which brought in excess of $125,000 each."

Archie Comics No. 1 was published in 1942, according to Comic Book Resources, and the brand continues today.

The winning bidder, who chose to remain anonymous, had been hunting a long time for a copy in great condition, according to the auction house.

"It's not going to leave my possession until I die," he reportedly told the auction house.

Denise Richards

As if Charlie Sheen didnāt have enough problems, like having his show canceled and sons taken, now his ex-wife is saying he poses a risk to their daughters, TMZ reported. Richards said she is ādisgustedā with Sheen and called him unstable, saying she didnāt want him or his āgoddessesā ā girlfriends Bree Olsen and Natalie Kenly ā around daughters Sam, 6, and Lola, 5, according to the website.FULL POST

The 57-year-old car dealership consultant is a mega-frequent flier who has racked up 9.7 million miles during 5,000 flights over the past three decades - and he's got the stories to prove it.

"I've experienced aborted takeoffs, aborted landings, near misses and passenger deaths on three different flights."

Sure, his status as frequent-flier king earns him royal treatment. But the U.S. commercial airline system often leaves him stranded like millions of other travelers.

To deal with potential gridlock from the 1 billion U.S. air passengers expected to crowd the skies by 2021, the FAA is overhauling its traffic system, which has remained largely unchanged for 30 years.

The overhaul is called NextGen and components of the air traffic program are in use or being tested at airports in several U.S. cities including Philadelphia, Houston, Seattle and Louisville, Kentucky.

[Updated at 11:49 a.m. ET, 6:49 p.m. local time] Forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi attacked peaceful protesters in Zawiya with mortars and machine guns on Friday, in what a witness called an "indescribable" and deadly assault.

[Updated at 11:20 a.m. ET, 6:20 p.m. local time] Before reports of the killings emerged, a report on Libyan state TV said people in Zawiya, west of Tripoli, and "their public leadership have secured and took control over the city from the armed terrorist elements."

Whale-watching tours off Victoria, British Columbia, may be exposing the area's killer whales to carbon monoxide emissions five times higher than those found on Los Angeles freeways, a local zoologist says.

Cara Lachmuth told the Victoria Times-Colonist that her two-year study of the effects of vehicle traffic patterns and atmospheric conditions on the local population of 87 orcas found the exhaust could harm the health of the whales.

"We're right at the threshold of where you would expect to see health effects," Lachmuth told the newspaper.

A 16-year-old Michigan basketball player hit a game-winning shot in overtime Thursday night to give his team a perfect 20-0 season record, then collapsed and died on the court, CNN affiliate WOOD in Grand Rapids reports.

Wes Leonard, a junior at Fennville High School, collapsed on the court just after Fennville's 57-55 overtime win over Bridgman High, according to the WOOD report. A parent EMT immediately began CPR, but the teen later died at Holland Hospital, the report said.

Liquor store meltdown – Smashing stuff isn't just for rock stars and two-year-olds. An angry woman acts on her impulse to smash through liquor bottles after a heated conversation with the store clerk. According to the store owners, she was told she couldn't use the store's restroom.

About This Blog

This blog ā This Just In ā will no longer be updated. Looking for the freshest news from CNN? Go to our ever-popular CNN.com homepage on your desktop or your mobile device, and join the party at @cnnbrk, the world's most-followed account for news.